


Payment In Kind With Better Results

by AnnieVH



Series: SwanFire High School AU [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Teenagers, Texting, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-07-14 18:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7185428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieVH/pseuds/AnnieVH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma gives Neal an official answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Payment In Kind With Better Results

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by Of_Princes_And_Savages.  
> Betaed by MaddieBonanaFana.

_How mad is he?_

Neal thought about it, thumbs lingering over the cellphone screen. He still had a cellphone, so that was a good sign. Or dad was just too frustrated to care.

So far, their fight was following the usual course. The moment the car stopped, Neal jumped out of it and went into the house without so much as glancing back. He knew it was childish, but he slammed the bedroom door anyway. Dad didn't follow. After that, it was 24 hours of mutually ignoring each other, something they'd gotten really good at over the years. Dad only knocked on his door to announce breakfast and then lunch. Neal replied he wasn't hungry both times. He hadn't bothered to ask him down for dinner, but left a tray with sandwiches outside his door. Dad never believed sending children to bed without supper accomplished anything other than malnourishment.

He typed, _The usual_ , and pressed send. If things didn't change, he'd probably spend the rest of the weekend in his bedroom, then wait for dad to leave the house to just do whatever he wanted. Dad wouldn't be the wiser. Unless he was expressing his disappointment, he never paid attention to him, so Neal might as well take advantage of that.

 _He said I'll have to pay for the boombox, though_ , he wrote.

Graham sent him a wincing emoticon, followed by, _That sucks. How much?_

Neal told him. A shocked little yellow face showed up on his screen.

_I know._

_For an old radio?!_

_Dad said it was “vintage”._

_Did Emma like it?_

Neal grinned at his cellphone. _Yup. Totally worth it._

_Did she say yes?_

He typed a very enthusiastic, _She did!_ , before thinking back at their exchange and adding, _Sorta._

Graham asked, _Sorta?_

_She implied._

_Implied?_

_It was HEAVILY implied._

Neal could almost see his best friend rolling his eyes to the ceiling when he answered, _Riiight._

Neal was about to recount the entire conversation and let his friend draw his own conclusions when his cellphone vibrated and Emma's name flashed on the top of the screen. A new message.

 _Wait it's her_ , he typed, immediately getting an absurd amount of lipstick marks in return.

Ignoring him, Neal switched to Emma's thread and read, _You know in those movies, when people throw pebbles at each other's windows?_

Neal grinned and answered, _Are you saying I lacked subtlety?_

_I'm saying duck. Your window is open._

Neal frowned, confused for just a second. And then came the tapping, when a little rock landed in the middle of his bedroom.

 _Good arm!_ , he wrote, before jumping out of bed and going to the window.

Just outside, in the middle of his lawn, Emma was holding a flashlight, pointed directly at him. Then, she turned it around to show the gigantic card she was holding, with big, bolded letters spelling:

 

_SHHH!!_

 

That was probably a good warning, because Neal was just about to shout, “What are you doing? You're crazier than I am!” It was one thing to trespass on the Nolan's property. It was another thing altogether to come into Mr. Gold's lawn uninvited.

Emma didn't seem afraid, though. She eyed the first floor of the house, carefully surveying for his father. When she was sure it was safe, she dropped the first card and revealed another.

 

_IN CASE U'R_

_WONDERING_

 

Neal waited as she sorted through the cards. Just how many were there? Downstairs, everything was silent, but it wouldn't take Mr. Gold long to notice the flashlight.

The next card, though, made him forget about everything else because, in even larger letters, it said:

 

_the answer is_

_**YES!!!** _

 

He knew it! He knew it was a yes! He hadn't been worried. Not one bit. But seeing the word just bellow him, large and sparkling under the flashlight made his heart feel lighter. She'd gone through the effort of adding pink glitter to the word, which was so girly and unlike her that it made him think she must have had help. It was no surprise when he spotted Elsa's car waiting on the other side of the street, three faces pressed to the windows in the dark, trying to catch a glimpse of the scene.

Emma lowered that card to the ground to show the next one:

 

_AND BTW_

 

Neal leaned outside the window, waiting.

When Emma showed him the very last card, he couldn't help but laugh.

 

_THIS IS HOW_

_YOU DO IT!_

 

Brilliant! That girl was absolutely freaking _brilliant!_ He was laughing so hard he almost didn't hear his father's knock.

“Bae?”

“Just a second, dad!” Neal shouted back, a little louder than necessary, so that Emma would hear him. She hurriedly killed the flashlight and collected her cards. By the time he opened the door, she was already inside Elsa's car, speeding away.

“What's so funny?” he asked, and Neal was glad to notice his tone was more curious than hostile.

“Uhn, Graham,” he answered, showing his phone. “Sorry. I'll keep it down.”

Gold nodded, eyeing the cellphone through narrow eyes. Neal offered him a neutral smile and tried to close the door before his father remember that not talking to your friends was an important part of being grounded. But Gold made a sound, as if he wanted to say something else. Neal winced, expecting the worst, but waited for it.

Gold stared at him for a moment, mouth half-opened, ready to demand the cellphone – or maybe apologize?

_Yeah, dare to dream..._

But ultimately, he decided against whatever it was that he was thinking about, and said, “Just... good night, son.”

“Yeah, night dad,” Neal said, closing the door quickly.

He threw himself back on the bed, the biggest smile on his face.

Graham had asked him, _So? What did she say? Duuude? Hellooo? What did she say? Did she say yes?_

Neal replied, _You're such a girl._

_I'll tell Emma you believe in gender roles._

He typed, _Haha_ , but then he added, _Uhn... please don't._

Graham's reply came within seconds, _WHAT – DID – SHE – SAY?_

Neal thought back on Emma, standing beautiful and slightly clumsy underneath his window, handling a pile of gigantic cards and a flashlight. He wanted to put the whole thing down in as many details as possible.

After a moment, he wrote back, _I love this girl._

 

 

 


End file.
